"Recently, CIL (Coal India) has signed MoU with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to install 1,000 MW solar power plants in the solar parks in different parts of India including Andhra Pradesh and Telengana to be identified by SECI, in a phased manner," Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

The minister further said that CIL has already installed 2.2 MW solar power projects in two of its subsidiaries i.e 2.00 MW in MCL (Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd) and 0.20 MW in Central Mine Planning & Design Institute Limited (CMPDI) to curb carbon emissions.

He further said that Coal India is a mining company and does not use coal for industrial purpose like power generation. However, extraction of coal has some effect on environment in terms of dust, air pollution, water pollution and land degradation. "Adequate measures are taken by the project proponents to mitigate these effects as per the approved environment management plans," he added.